The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (10 page)

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four

EQUIPMENT:
Two standard decks of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Two hours

PARTNERSHIP:
Yes

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

Canasta (meaning “basket” in Spanish) was invented during the early twentieth century in Uruguay. The game was further developed in Argentina before arriving in the United States, where it became a huge fad during the 1950s. The objective of canasta is to score points by forming “melds,” or groups of cards, consisting of three or more cards of the same value.

Canasta is played with four players making up two teams of two players; the members of each team sit across from one another. Two standard packs of fifty-two cards are used, along with four jokers. The jokers are each worth fifty points; aces and twos are worth twenty points each; kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, and eights are worth ten points each; and sevens, sixes, fives, and fours are worth five points each. The jokers and twos are wild cards, and the threes serve special functions (as explained later).

The first dealer is selected at random. When it’s your turn to deal, shuffle the cards and have the player to your right cut them. Deal each player eleven cards, one at a time, face down. Place the remaining cards face down to form a stockpile. Turn over the top card of the stockpile and place it face up beside the stockpile to form the discard pile. If this card is a wild card or a red three, turn over the next card, continuing until the card is not wild or a red three.

Your goal while playing canasta is to collect cards to help you form and lay down melds. A meld in canasta consists of at least three cards of the same value. It must contain at least two natural (nonwild) cards, and no meld can contain more than three wild cards. A meld containing seven or more cards is called a “canasta” and scores you extra points. You must have at least one canasta to win the game, but you should try to build as many as you can. You cannot have a meld of the same value as your partner, so if you hold any cards that are the same value as one of your partner’s melds, you’ll just add your cards to his. In order to lay down your first meld(s), you must have a minimum number of points based on your team’s cumulative score from the previous hands. If your team has a negative score, you need fifteen points in your initial meld(s). If your score is 0–1,495, your team needs fifty points in your initial meld(s). If your score is 1,500–2,995, you need ninety points in your initial meld(s). If your score is 3,000 or higher, you need 120 points in your initial meld(s).

Play begins with the player to the dealer’s left and continues clockwise. When it’s your turn, you start off by picking up either the top card in the stockpile or all of the cards in the discard pile (if it is not frozen, as described later). If you want to pick up the discard pile, you must first show that you can meld the top card with cards currently in your hand or be able to add the top card to one of your partner’s melds. Remember that you can only make an initial meld if the cards you are laying down contain enough points based on your team’s cumulative score. In the first hand, you have a score of zero and need fifty points in your initial meld. After laying down a meld, you can make additional melds if you wish. If you took the top card from the stockpile, you may also lay down any melds in your hand. You end your turn by discarding a card from your hand onto the discard pile.

If your team has not yet melded any cards onto the table, or if the top card is a wild card or a black three, the discard pile is frozen and you may not take cards from it. The exception to this rule is if you have two natural cards in your hand and can use the wild card to create a meld.

If you draw a red three from the stockpile, you must place it face up on the table and draw a replacement card from the stockpile. Red threes score you additional points at the end of the hand, but they do not count as points toward laying down an initial meld. If you discard a black three, it freezes the pile until the next discard. The most important strategy in canasta is to be the first team to take the discard pile. This often lets you control the rest of the hand, pick up the pile often, and recycle black threes as discards.

The end of the hand occurs with the first player to “go out.” Your team must have at least one canasta before you or your partner can go out. To go out, you must meld all of the cards in your hand, or meld all but one card and use that card as a discard. If you hold any black threes in your hand, you may lay them down in a meld when you go out (the only time you may make a meld containing black threes). The meld must be three or four black threes and cannot contain any wild cards.

At any time that you are able to go out, you may ask your partner first by saying, “May I go out?” after taking a card from the stock or discard pile. Whatever your partner responds (yes or no) is binding, and you must abide by it. Your partner will most often answer with a yes to this question, but if he has extra points in his hand or is close to a canasta, he may ask you not to go out.

Play immediately ends if the last card drawn in the stockpile is a red three, because there are no replacement cards for you to draw. If the final card drawn is not a red three, play can continue until a player does not wish to draw by taking the discard pile. The game would then end.

Each team now scores their hand. You earn points for any cards you and your partner have melded, lose points for any cards in your hands, and receive bonus points as follows:

• Going out receives 100 bonus points.
  
• Going out “concealed” (without having laid any previous melds) receives an extra 100 bonus points.
  
• Each natural canasta (containing no wild cards) receives 500 bonus points.
  
• Each mixed canasta (containing wild cards) receives 300 bonus points.
  
• Each red three receives 100 bonus points if the partnership has at least one meld.
  
• Each red three is penalized 100 points if the partnership did not meld.
  
• All four red threes receive an extra 400 bonus points if the partnership had a meld, or –400 points if the partnership did not meld.
  

The winner of the game is the partnership that scores 5,000 or more cumulative points in a set, after several hands.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
One

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Fifteen minutes

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Clock is a solitary game, requiring just one player. The objective of Clock is to get all of your cards in their appropriate time slot before capturing all four kings. Shuffle and deal out thirteen stacks of four cards. Starting with the top of your playing field, put one card face down at the twelve o’clock position. Follow that by placing one card face down at the one o’clock position and so on, until you reach the eleven o’clock position. Place a thirteenth card in the center of the circle to form the “hand” of the clock. Repeat this three more times until the deck is entirely used.

Turn up the top card in the clock hand. Move this card to its corresponding time slot (one through ten are, respectively, one through ten o’clock, jacks are eleven o’clock, queens are twelve o’clock, and kings form the clock hand). Place the card face up at the bottom of the pile of its time slot, and take the top card from the same time slot. For instance, you would place a four face up on the bottom of the four o’clock time slot, take the top card from the four o’clock time slot, and move that to its time slot. Move this card to its corresponding time slot and continue play. If a king is turned over, this goes at the bottom of the clock hand, and the top card of the clock hand is played. The game ends when all of the kings are face up and there are no more cards to be taken from the clock hand or when all of the clock times are face up. If the kings are turned up first, you lose. If the clock is turned up first, you win!

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two or more

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
Half an hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy

Looking for a strategy game to play with your little ones? Crazy Eights involves thinking ahead and planning for your last discard. It also develops matching skills, following suit, and recognizing the value of cards. The objective of Crazy Eights is to be the first person to discard all of the cards in your hand.